Wednesday, March 09, 2005

A Guitar Lesson To Help You Develop Your Vision

Author: Craig Bassett (The GuitarSolutionsExpert)Article: Have you ever done any of the following?1. Made excuses for not practicing because you "didn't havetime"? 2. Practiced the same licks and exercises that you didlast year? 3. Felt like you had hit a brick wall in yourprogress? 4. Felt unsure as to what to practice? Unless your name is Steve Vai, chances are you've done at leastone of the above! They are all symptoms of having a lack of vision.What do I mean by vision? Vision in this context is having aclearly defined picture in your mind's eye of how you would liketo play. It must be a crystal clear, exciting and inspiringpicture! Without an absolutely clear picture of what you would ideallylike to sound like, you will not know what you need to practicein order to realise that vision. You will also probably lose thedrive and motivation to practice daily for many years until youcan play like your vision. You may even start using the loser'smantra which is "I don't have time to practice". Exercise One: Think about how you would like to play in 10 yearstime. Close your eyes and try to see yourself playing exactlyhow you would like to play. Write down what you see now. Make sure that it is detailed. What techniques are you a masterof? What songs can you play? What bands are you in? How manystudents do you teach? How does it feel when you play like youdo? Exercise Two: Now write down what areas of your playing you willneed to start working on in order to reach your vision. Whattechniques do you need to start practising? What chords do youneed to learn? What music theory do you need to start learningabout? Do you need to start doing ear training? What books,teachers, CDs and other tools will help you realise your vision?How much time every day do you think you will need to practisein order to play like you want to play? Exercise Three: Spend 10 minutes a day for the next 30 daysimagining yourself playing exactly how you would like to play.Do this with your eyes shut. Don't worry, it won't make you wantto start eating tofu or go around the neighborhood huggingtrees! At the end of every time you do this, write down onesmall new detail about your vision. By the end of 30 days youshould be feeling so excited that you'll want to practice 24/7! About the author:Craig Bassett is a professional guitarist, guitar tutor andauthor from New Zealand.http://www.Pentatonic-Guitar-Lessons.com